Report: what's going on with sales of 1″ camera phones and what their future is

Last year, the development of mobile camera technology reached an important milestone: the popularization of a record-breaking 1″

Sony IMX989 sensor, which is currently activeis being implemented in many camera phones. Counterpoint Research researchers decided to demonstrate the dynamics of development of inch matrices and even tell interesting sales figures for smartphones based on them.

The founder of smartphones since 1″ sensorthe authors consider the Panasonic Lumix DMC-CM1, which offered it back in 2014 and, it seems, 8 years later served as a source of inspiration for the Xiaomi 12S Ultra, but did not have much success in sales. In 2021, the Sharp Aquos R6 was released, and soon the Sony Xperia PRO-I. They both received 1″ Sony Exmor RS sensor and sold a modest total circulation of about 130,000 pieces.

Well, now we know where the Xiaomi 12S Ultra design came from

Gained much more popularity at that time1/1.2″ Samsung GN2 sensor, which was the basis of Xiaomi 11 Ultra and Honor Magic 4 Ultimate, the circulation of which was many times larger: about 3.46 million units. And now the popularization of 1″ Sony IMX989, which is already present in Sharp Aquos R7, Xiaomi 12S Ultra, Vivo X90 Pro / Pro+ and Xiaomi 13 Pro. In less than a year, the total sales volume of these models reached about 530,000 units. As can be seen from the graph, Samsung GN2 is rapidly losing ground, and IMX989 is only gaining momentum.

It is worth noting that the report covers the perioduntil the end of 2022, which means it does not take into account the active sales phase of Vivo X90 Pro / Pro+ and Xiaomi 13 Pro. In addition, we will soon see the launch of OPPO Find X6 Pro and, possibly, Sharp Aquos R8, which means sales volumes of 1″ Camera phones will likely continue to grow throughout 2023.

© Vladimir Kovalev.

Sourced from counterpointresearch.com